Ep 430: Getting Consistent Weight Loss & Fitness Results With Cody Watkins

Getting in shape doesn’t have to be complicated. Health, nutrition and fitness are being overcomplicated with too many complex protocols and gurus contradicting each other. So how do you know what’s best for you?  Cody Watkins was an out of shape high schooler who taught himself how to get into shape with powerlifting and bodybuilding.  Even a birth defect that led him to open heart surgery and a come back 11 months after surgery at the age of 30 didn’t stop him.  Seventeen years later Cody has helped over 2000 people achieve better lives through fitness by simplifying their way to success.  In this episode of The Health Fix Podcast, Dr. Jannine Krause interviews Cody Watkins on the steps to simplify, set goals and expectations properly to get results with health and fitness. 

Resources From The Show:

• Cody Watkins Fitness on Instagram
• Free: Food Freedom Program – message Cody on IG: Freedom 22

Our Partners

Podcast Transcript:

Summary:

1:36 – Why Cody got into fitness

7:36 – The key to getting started with exercise and nutrition

10:31 – Benefits of eating protein

12:12 – Cody’s protein plan for clients

14:50 – Cody’s favorite brand of protein

17:43 – Thoughts on fasting

24:01 – Behind the scenes of a fitness competitor

28:55 – Ways to cut calories by making different choices

38:43 – A bit about Cody’s coaching business

JANNINE: [Intro] Welcome to the Health Fix Podcast, where health junkies get their weekly

fix of tips, tools, and techniques to have limitless energy, sharp minds, and fit

physiques for life. Hey health junkies on this episode of the Health Fix Podcast,

I’m interviewing Cody Watkins. He’s a fitness coach who helps busy professionals

lose 20 to 30 pounds in 90 days without giving up their favorite foods. Say what?

Yes, Cody simplifies things at a level that, you know, a lot of gurus out there just aren’t doing.

He meets people where they’re at and up-level things one step at a time.

And so today we’re going to be talking all about his principles of thought process and his experience.

So if you’re looking to make some changes that are sustainable with your health and fitness this year,

this year. You got to listen to this podcast. Cody knows what’s up. Great guy. I had a great

interview and I know you guys are going to enjoy this one. So let’s introduce you to Cody Watkins.

JANNINE: Hey health junkies. I got Cody Watkins on today. And boy, we’ve already had a great conversation

before we hit record. So you guys are going to love this one. So Cody, welcome to the Health

Fix Podcast. 

CODY: Thanks for having me. 

JANNINE: So, you know, when someone is fit, we always look at them and

And we’re like, wow, I want muscles like them.

That’s amazing.

And it sounded like that was kind of the thing

that got you into this year.

Like I’m not taking my shirt off at the pool.

You know, I’m kind of scrawny.

And then you had a surgery.

Gosh, tell us what fueled that fire

to want to get fit and help others too.

CODY: Yeah, so when I first started,

I was pretty young, 16, 17 years old.

And I think when a lot of guys go through that age,

you kind of get that skinny fat body.

It doesn’t really make sure what it wants to be.

You get a little bit of man boobs.

you’re trying to swim with your shirt on, you know, getting the water neck deep real quick.

Not super comfortable, right? But when you’re not big, if you’re more like a skinny fat,

nobody’s going to look at you like you need to lose weight, but doesn’t mean you’re

comfortable on your own skin, right? So I did, you know, some crazy diets when I first started

the tuna fish diet, I last like three days eating nothing but tuna, and then I finally started just

reading and getting in nutrition. And that’s where I had my my bigger results. And I started getting

into fitness a bit more. So then I did some competitive powerlifting, competitive body building,

I started doing personal training when I was like 19 I was a top trainer in the region for a large corporate company open my own studio online training all that stuff and so I competed bodybuilding for 10 or 12 years something like that.

And then transitioned more into a little bit of normalcy but on the last side of that I was prepping for you know my last bodybuilding show and I found out I have birth defect on my heart.

So I had had side effects for years, but when you’re fit and healthy, you’re walking in the doctor’s office, you know, six to ten percent body fat, they’re not going to look at you and think heart problems. They’re just going to look at you and think, oh, he’s healthy. He’s good.

And so that’s more or less what it was. And so I had a birth defect in my heart, a ripped or my heart was three times the size it should be.

I was down to 10 to 15 percent heart function by the time they cut me open. So that’s a year to live. Right. So not, not super good. And so they cut me open.

And so they cut me open and when I got out, I was, you know, and you’re always in that

dilemma because I’ve been in fitness 15 years straight at that point.

I didn’t know any other life.

And so you don’t know if you’re going to be able to even do it, what you’re going to be

able to do when you get out.

And so you hit a little bit of an identity crisis with that.

And I thought to myself was, you know, obviously like, if I’m allowed to, because I’m not going

to blow this thing out, you know, really get another one of those, that I would do a body

show just to see if I could, right? I see that still had it. And so I ended up

competing about 11 months after I had open heart surgery. And he ended up

winning first place of that show. It was pretty cool. That was down to 5% body fat.

That’s when I kind of hung my trunks up, so to speak. But it showed me that you could still

come back from things like that, right? On the extreme. And so I feel a lot of people

get derailed by just little things. And I’m like, well, if I can come back to him,

something as big as, you know, getting

filet open and heart failure, right?

I’m sure I could help other people address

their issues that may or may not be quite as large as that.

JANNINE: Yeah, yeah, no, I mean, it’s incredible because it is true.

Like we’ll look at folks who are fit, we’ll look at folks who’ve

got great amounts of muscle and be like, Oh, there’s nothing

health wise wrong with them, they’re fine.

And then, you know, that was probably a pretty huge

ordeal for sure for you to kind of even fathom in your brain.

And I think, you know, a lot of people when they’re diagnosed

with cardiovascular stuff and having, you know,

folks are listening, he was talking about 10 to 15%,

this is an ejection fraction of what’s coming out

of your heart and pumping through your body.

A lot of folks will have, you know,

cardiovascular stuff happen and they’ll be like,

oh, I can’t work out, I can’t be fit again.

And I bet you’re seeing some folks

who have gone through those kind of things, just like you.

CODY: Yeah, as soon as I started, you know,

coming out posting about it and my inbox was full

of people that had heart stuff because the doctors,

And they come from a liability standpoint.

So they’d rather tell you don’t do anything than have you do something and have the probability

of having like a lawsuit come back in them.

So, you know, like you have to be pretty specific with your questions when you’re asking them

because if you say, can I work out, well, they’re going to assume like swap bench, deadlift,

heavy, intense, they’re going to say, no, just because they don’t want to get sued.

But if you’re like, well, can I do like a bicep curl?

They’re going to be like, well, yeah, I guess you could do that.

“What can I do like a tricep thing?”

Well, yeah, I guess that’s okay.

And so if you kind of itemize your checklist,

you can get away with a lot more than you think

coming out of recovery and surgeries like that.

And it’s really just a matter of not throwing in the towel.

You know, kind of like TMI,

but they talk about pressure, right?

But also holding your breath, that increases pressure.

It can, you know, if you’re having like a tissue valve

or something, it can rupture that

if you’re getting that fixed on your heart.

But you ask them a simple question, you’re like,

well, if you’re taking an intense poop,

it does the same thing.

And then they go, well, yeah.

So we’re never supposed to take a crap again.

Like how does that work?

It’s the same thing.

And so you got to think like in context of the doctors, right?

Like they have your best interests at heart most of the time,

but they also have the not getting sued aspect in.

So don’t be afraid to pry,

ask a few more questions when it comes to it

because sometimes the answer they give

is more blanket statement that is specific to you and your case.

JANNINE: That’s, that’s wise information.

Cause I found the same thing.

Like, you know, yes, there’s the cardiovascular programs

where they’ll put the folks through the bikes

and the treadmills and whatnot, which yeah, that’s nice.

But, you know, I’m, I’m asked often and I can think

of one patient in mind right now who is always kind of asking me

like, what kind of fitness routines can I do?

What can, you know, what’s, what’s realistic?

And the, the truth is, is I think we overcomplicate all

of this and it’s something that you had mentioned

in terms of fitness as a whole.

And of course, my thing is number one, yes, there’s food,

but number one, and people can argue,

oh, 80% of your success or 90% of your success is nutrition.

Yes, but movement is such great medicine.

So tell us, Cody, a little bit about how you’re helping folks

simplify, what are you kind of given as the baseline

when folks come in and say someone’s never worked out before,

or they have minimal experience?

CODY: Yeah. So the key is it’s to not bite off more than you can choose.

So I when it comes to anything, it’s like, how do you eat the elephant?

By the time you try to eat that thing in one bite, you’re going to choke.

And so I think when a lot of people start off special, you know,

this time of year, new year’s resolutions and all that,

I’m going to work out six days a week.

I’m going to eat chicken rice and broccoli.

I’m going to do nothing healthy or everything healthy, nothing bad.

And the thing is, we all know that’ll work,

but you have to ask yourself the question on the backside.

Is that something I can stick with?

And if the answer is no, congratulations,

you’ve bought your one-way ticket on the fitness roller coaster,

where you’re gonna go up and down and wait

for the rest of your life.

So if you wanna consistent right on the direction you want,

what you have to do is break it down to the basics.

So like you said, movement is a key importance to that.

So where you have to focus,

you have nutrition first,

because you have to have a calorie deficit

and we’ll go lose fast.

So we do have to put the emphasis there.

However, movement and working out

will have a two-punch combo.

So although, yes, it probably is 80% nutrition,

20% workouts movement, all that.

How many people go to the gym and bomb their nutrition?

Well, you don’t want to ruin that workout, right?

So it’s kind of like a way to lock your nutrition in.

But when we’re coming to starting with basics,

when it comes to weight loss and that endeavor,

what we want to do is focus on three things.

So number one is just basic movement.

This is going to give you between 10 to 20%

of your metabolic rate for the day as far as expenditure.

But this is, it can be a simple step count.

So if you’re wearing like a Fitbit, Apple Watch,

anything like that, take a look

at what you’re currently doing.

And if you’re only doing like 3000 steps,

it is unreasonable to shoot for 10.

You might get it on a flicker,

but that’s not something you can keep consistent.

So ask yourself, like, could I do 1000 steps?

Which is roughly 10 minutes of walking a day.

It’s not crazy.

You’re like, yeah, probably.

Cool, let’s start there.

Check that box for a couple of weeks.

And when that’s going good, then throw on some more.

And you’re like, oh yeah, I totally think I could do that.

Cool.

Then you go to the next one.

So you go water intake.

So like three of these guys a day for most people

off the fourth or some, right?

96 to 128 ounces.

That’s a 10 to 20% metabolic boost

after you’re drinking the water.

So if we can get stairmaster burn calories sitting on your butt,

let’s do that.

That’s way easier than driving to the gym

and getting the stairs in.

And then from a performance aspect,

if you’re going up to the gym and your dehydrate

as little as 3%, it can affect performance 10 to 20.

So you might think you’re going up the gym

and just crushing your workout.

But if you’re going up there dehydrated,

you’re going up there in like third gear.

You got another gear or two in that gearbox

you haven’t even tapped into.

So imagine if you would actually be training hard

how quick your results would be in comparison.

So we want to check those two boxes.

And then the third would kind of fall under nutrition,

but it’s going to be protein intake, right?

So this isn’t really focusing on calories or anything

at this point.

If I have a person just starting out, just protein.

And usually I’ll shoot for about a gram per pound of lean.

A gram per pound of body weight is usually a good metric to aim for.

Obviously, if you’re like a three or 400 pound person, you don’t need three or 400 pounds,

but so somewhere in that ball park, right?

And then you aim for this.

And so the biggest thing is if you eat protein first, you’re going to eat less of everything

in.

So it’s almost like an automatic diet, because if you’re full, which protein increases satiety,

you will eat less of everything else on your plate.

So if you just simply shifted the focus to what you ate first, it’s going to go a long

ways when it comes to it.

Protein is also going to help us with metabolic rate.

Takes so much energy to digest, you’re going to get that 20% to 30% metabolic boost over

carbs or fat just by consuming it.

And then third thing is you can’t build muscle without it.

So if you’re looking for a lean tone body metabolism where you can eat more than 30 calories

a day, let’s focus on the protein so we can actually get some more volume and food in

there, right? And once you check those three boxes, you notice how I haven’t even said like,

go into the gym, get on the stairmaster doing anything that these three boxes alone should

start to get that scale moving down. And then obviously for sake of lead tissue energy body

functions, yes, we want to get the training in 100%. 

JANNINE: And I’m laughing folks, because you said 30

calories because yes, it it’s wild, you know, I will see it where women are barely eating anything

and their weight is not, you know, shove, you know,

anything, nothing’s happening.

It’s like stagnant, but protein, hydration, you know,

the foundations are so important.

And I think Cody, one of the things that folks are probably

out in the back of their head right now,

because this is always the question I get.

What if I can’t eat that much protein?

Do I have to do protein shakes?

Oh no, what do I do?

Give us the scoop.

What’s your like protein spiel for folks?

When we go to eat it, you said eat it first, then what?

you know, how does it look?

What’s it, what’s the plan?

CODY: Well, the first thing you want to do

is not just do boiled chicken, right?

So if we make the protein taste good,

it’s a lot easier to do.

So the biggest thing is I would break down like,

write down your five, 10 favorite foods.

And then what you try to do is figure out,

how can I make these into a protein meal, right?

And oftentimes it’s really, really simple.

Now, I’m a huge advocate for shakes just due to simplicity

because most people, they get behind on food,

which makes you hungry.

And when you’re hungry, you’re making bad decisions.

And so you peruse the cupboard for food

that is just quick and convenient

or like you’re on your way home from work

and you’re like, oh, I don’t want to cook when I get home.

I’ll swing in and get some fast food.

When really you’re going to sit in that drive-through

just as long as it would have took you to warm up

like a pre-made meal from Costco

that’s got 40 to 50 grams of protein.

And so how about the easy convenient proteins at home?

That’s step one, two is knowing how to make better decisions and being ahead of

hunger curve. Don’t get your meals so spaced out that you’re starving by the

next one, because you’ll make terrible decisions. If you’re kind of hungry,

you’re pulling through the Wendy’s drive through, you can go, cool, I want a real

chicken sandwich. All of a sudden, it’s better than a double bacon,

burger, baconator, fries, and a frosty. And you can do that because you’re in a

logical state of mind. You’re not overly hungry. So the little things go a long

ways and then don’t be afraid to use shakes like people look it on like a supplement. I think of

them just it’s like blended chicken right like that’s all we’re going to think of it’s a food

supplement and so if they don’t usually keep you full so if appetite’s the issue absolutely find

protein to eat but if you’re someone who’s not hungry it’s really easy to drink a 25 to 50 gram

shake in between meals and get that number where you need it so like me I’ll do I do two solid meals

a day and like five shakes. It’s just when my schedule is easier. When you come from bodybuilding,

you’ve ate a copious amount of calories for too many years. And I frankly just don’t like to sit

there and eat my life away when it comes to it. So I drink my calories for sake of ease.

JANNINE: Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, well, let’s put it this way. A lot of people will tell me like,

I’m so sick of chewing. And yes, I get it. It’s a thing. So two questions. What is your favorite

brand of protein powder? And, and you know, if folks can’t get ahold of that brand, like what,

what would they want to be looking for in that department? And then the other thing is like a

totally separate question, but I, I totally want to dive in on it is fasting, because I feel like

fasting can be beneficial, but if folks go too long and then they get hungry and then they’re

baconating and all the other things, no bueno. So let’s talk about, let’s talk about protein

CODY:  And second question, but we’ll get the protein one out first. So with protein, I actually came

across Amazon’s brand, the Nutra Cost, which is like the most budget friendly brand. And I bought

it just because I was sick of Costco, you know, being out of stock or cranking their protein bag

prices up like 30 a bag because you got to remember I’m going through like four or five

tubs of that stuff a month. So I’m like, when I see a 30% increase in something, I’m like,

maybe there’s something more effective because whey proteins are very similar when you’re going

brand to brand a brand. A lot of these, I got buddies in the supplement industry.

A lot of the companies will tell, oh, we have this special, unique way. There’s like three

or four factories that actually produce it. So they’re all buying it from roughly the same source.

Now, there is quality issues, obviously, between different brands and stuff, but I don’t think

for the common person, it’s going to be much of a noticeable effect. Now, with the whey proteins

from Amazon, like that chocolate peanut butter is delicious. I was actually shocked that the

cheap brand tasted better than the stuff I had been buying for years. Flavor is very subjective,

so you could try it if it works for you cool, if not, there’s many, many other brands. But

when it comes to women specifically, I don’t mind doing a concentrate, which is the cheap

form of it strictly because your protein demands are not that high,

comparatively like a male, and so concentrate will have a little bit more fat, a little bit more

carbs, but neglect them, right, on a smaller frame. Now when you get a larger individual like

myself, and we try to elevate our protein with that, that extra carbon fat will hit your calories

hard, and it’s harder to manage it with the hunger levels, with it, you know, having to drop carbs

of fat somewhere else with it. So for most ladies, that’ll work good. Now, some people

have food allergies and whey is not a super common one. But if you do, there’s, you can do a beef

protein, plant proteins are usually like my least favorite when it comes to them. I see a lot more

food allergies, head knee digestion and things like that with plant-based protein. You’re trying to

take something that’s not a complete protein and fortify it with a bunch of other stuff to get it

it to be. So just personally, I’m not a huge fan of that. If it’s your last resort for digestion,

absolutely that’ll work. But that’s my go-to for protein. Now, if you’re someone who’s super lazy,

buy the, you know, the premiere of some Costco, something that’s already in a bottle. Because if

it comes to having to put it in a shaker and mix it, and it’s five in the morning and you’re lazy,

you’re not going to do it. So you need something you can take in a car, pop the cap, drink 30 grams

down, you’ll pay the convenience price for it. But the flavor is good. It’s portable. You don’t have

and have any excuse not to get your protein in.

JANNINE: I like that, I like that.

I mean, I know a lot of folks will like nitpick

and be like, but what there’s this in it?

And that, I mean, I think we’ve gotten,

and this is where the simplicity,

I think we’ve gotten to nitpicking stuff way too much

to the point where now we’re analysis by paralysis

and sometimes we just need to know ourselves really well,

pick what’s gonna work for you and move on.

CODY: Absolutely.

Now on the fasting one, this one gets interesting for me

because I am actually a hardcore anti-faster

and this is why.

So I owned a DEXA scan business for three, four years.

So I have like 1000 plus people, okay.

Out of there and for those of you who don’t know,

I DEX scans like the most accurate body fat test.

It’s a bone density machine, they’ll scan it

and X-ray machine, they’ll scan you

in the hospital, test that.

But it technically checks your fat

and your muscle tissue.

Just they don’t put that on the print out in the hospital

because it would make you kind of edgy going in there

and you don’t probably want to know it at that point.

But I on that ran that for a few years

and I’ve seen thousands of scans, right?

And so with this, every single person I had doing fasting,

or not I had that came in doing fasting,

lost a massive amount of muscle

for minimal amounts of body fat.

And so not saying that there’s not benefits

for cognitive, gut flora, all that,

but short-term interim.

So you have to wear your pros and cons.

So I had two guys, for instance,

and we’ll keep them anonymous,

but we’ll give you the data here.

And so with this, they were fasting

for religious purposes, right?

But they wanted to see what their bodies did with this fast.

So they did a week-long water fast, right?

So maybe some chicken broth, right?

But like, again, not a thing for it, but no food, for a week.

And so they came in and one of the guys was lifting,

the other guy wasn’t.

The guy that wasn’t lifting lost 15 pounds in the week,

13 pounds of it was muscle.

Two pounds of it was fat.

The other guy lost 17.

14 pounds of it was muscle.

Three pounds was fat.

So each of them losing over 15 pounds

actually increased their body fat percentage

because they lost so much muscle.

And so the problem is when you do this chronically over time

you reduce that metabolic rate

because you’re shaving off lean tissue.

And then what happens is the minute

that you go back to start eating normal,

which you will eventually, you’re gonna gain weight

with a vengeance because your metabolic rate is so slow

because you stripped the lean tissue down

trying to get a quick fix problem.

So when it comes to fitness, you guys have to remember

there’s no finishing.

You don’t get in shape and you go check, I beat fitness.

There’s finite games like if we’re playing checkers

and then there’s infinite games like life

and fitness nobody beats it, nobody wins.

you win fitness by keeping doing it.

And so when you try to carve out like a finish line,

invariably, if you can’t stick with it at the end,

it’s going to come back.

So you have to start with the end in mind

and have something that you can sustain for the long haul.

Now, there’s periods you wanna ramp it up

and do that absolutely, but at the same time,

if we take an approach that enhances our quick results,

which is scale weight loss,

but is actually negative in the long term,

it’s not gonna set you up for success as a whole.

And again, you’ll get right back on that fitness rollercoaster.

And the goal would be to increase lean tissue

as much as you possibly can to elevate that metabolic rate

so that you never get fat again.

And that’s in the game.

JANNINE: Huge, huge.

I mean, right now I’m like speechless only

because I’m like, can you talk to everybody I know?

on that because, you know, please, please,

that’s what we’re doing right now, guys.

Because I believe in like 12 hours or so

between meals to like give your body a like a rest, right?

But I do, I see so many of my patients going like,

okay, I’m doing this fasting thing, but I’m starving.

And then, you know, and of course I’ve tried it

’cause I, I’m an one, I will try anything.

CODY: Oh, you gotta try it, absolutely, yeah.

JANNINE: At least for a minute.

But what I found is I’d get so hungry

if I was trying to fast, then the next thing you know,

I’m eating everything in the house that I wouldn’t have ate should I, you know,

if I would have kept with my usual situation.

So, you know, I ultimately found that it doesn’t work like the long periods.

I’m good 12 or 14 hours, 16 on like the far end.

But if I start going over that, we’re in trouble.

Like– 

CODY:  Well, I see, I see the issues, even with those durations tends to be that

window of day left, get really hard to get adequate protein and take up.

So like you might feel gut heavy with protein spacing out throughout the day.

when a girl your size is trying to do, you know, 50 to 70 grams of protein in a sitting just to

try to crank those meals up, that’s going to set like a brick, especially, you know, and you can see

data on on vegans with this. I’m sure it happens chronically with fasting as well, but everything in

the body is adaptive responsive. So it’s we’re chronically telling the body that we don’t have

anything in our stomach, it will start to slow down the HCL production. So then when you try to

throw in more protein, you can’t actually digest it, so it’s going to set like a brick.

And so it depends on where you’re at because from like a health standpoint, if we’re just

talking health and longevity, absolutely. But when we throw like the fitness component into it,

so if you’re trying to have like these influencer bodies, you got the toned abs, the nice looking

glutes, buff arms, it’s really hard to live that double life. And so not saying fitness isn’t

healthy, but it’s healthy in a different man, right? And so from a standpoint of survival and all

that, absolutely, there’s benefits to it, but it’s a pro and con with your goal. So it has to align

with that in order to really, really be direction correct. 

JANNINE: That’s a huge, that’s a huge statement

right there, because I think a lot of people aren’t thinking about, you know, most women are like,

I just want to lose weight, right? You know, unfortunately, ladies, I’m probably not speaking

for all of you, but I’m speaking for a lot of you. You know, the reason we’re going to work out,

the reason we’re going to do stuff is we want to lose weight. And one of the big things Cody and I

were kind of joking about this time of year, ladies will come to me and go, Doc, I want to do a fitness

competition because I saw so-and-so do it. She super ripped. She lost a ton of weight. And I’m like,

okay, all right. Yeah. What she looked like now. And if they kept doing comps, probably all right.

If they bailed on it, I am a comp failure. And we’ll talk about why if we get to there. But

Yeah, I couldn’t do it. Let’s talk about fitness and fitness training and giving folks the dirty

secret on this stuff. 

CODY:  It’s not as glamorous as it looks online. When you see these influencers,

they’re peak shape. When you get behind closed doors with them, they’re going to be some of the

most broken people that you would ever meet. They’re just as insecure as someone who’s overweight

and all that, it doesn’t necessarily fix the problem unless you fix the problem along the way.

Now, I’m not bashing him in that regards, but I don’t necessarily think it’s a healthy goal to

strive for. So when you start to get super lean, especially as a female, you’re going to stop your

cycle, hormones go to garbage, you get a male who’ll have almost no testosterone production at the end,

unless he’s enhanced in some way, shape or form. So it’s not healthy to be staging. It’s not

healthy to look like that. It’s not, it’s not healthy how you necessarily get there. And so if

you just want to dip your toes in, get some cool pictures and come out, cool, good for you,

absolutely fine. But if you’re one of those people that wants to stay there and be there,

it’s not going to feel good. Your joints are going to get achy, you’re going to have no energy,

no sex drive, appetites through the roof, you’re constantly fighting hunger. And it’s just,

I don’t feel it’s a good place to be. And unfortunately too, in the days of social media,

a lot of those pictures you see guys are photoshopped. And so even though that person will be lean,

right, those pictures, their abs are airbrushed in and all that, it’s not a candid photo, it’s good

lighting. So you have a goal that really they’re not even that you’re striving for and it’s an

unhealthy relationship with it. And so from that aspect, it’s not good. Now you might be able to

light your fire, do a competition, do all that, absolutely, which is great. But the problem you’re

going to end up being is from what I’ve seen being in this industry, you know, 17 plus years,

competitors have a three to five year shelf life. And then they’re done. So the women will look

great, do nine, 10 shows a year. And then their bodies, they start eating less and less and less

less, two, three hours of cardio day, 900 calories because their metabolism’s so slow from chronically

dieting. And when they get done within a year, you can’t even tell what they ever got on stage.

I’ve had competitors that were competing, you know, 110, 120 pounds. They come to me as like,

like, you know, post competition survivors,

and they’re two, three hundred pounds.

And you would never guess it.

And the problem ends up being

is the extremes they had to do to get there.

They are so afraid of doing it again.

They can’t even take that first step to start

where really when you’re up to that two or 300 pound mark,

not working out, eating fairly terrible,

you don’t have to start with anything crazy.

You could be going to Burger King every day

and switch your large try to a small and grab a Diet Coke.

Instead of Coke, you’re gonna lose one to two pound a week

just by doing that.

And so the little things add up to big outcomes

when it comes to it.

But the problem is that fear

because competition prep was so rude

like felt so terrible for so long,

they won’t even take that first step to start it.

So the simplification process is the same stuff

we would use on like a rebound and competitor

for a new person to start

because what we wanna do is we wanna look at fitness

like a job, not that you have to eat your job

or anything, but I would rather go to a job 20 hours a week,

get paid for 60 in results,

then go for 60 and get paid 20 in results.

And so if you’re going up the gym six days a week,

eat in rabbit food, chicken rice, broccoli, the works,

and your body hasn’t changed in months,

you’re a volunteer work right now.

You haven’t got a paycheck.

Versus if you start out go two, maybe three times a week,

eat good and see amazing results,

now you’re set up for success

because you can keep doing that.

JANNINE: Absolutely, absolutely.

And so Cody, you know, you bring up so many different things.

Obviously, not everyone’s looking for the competition,

but a lot of folks, and I get texts, emails,

phone calls from women.

I’ve been doing this plan for two weeks

and I haven’t gotten any results.

I haven’t lost the 100 pounds I’m trying to lose,

and of course, I’m always like,

kill me now, kill me now.

Because it’s like, we try as humans,

I think a lot of us, this first part of the year,

we’ll go gong-ho on all of it, right?

we’ll go organic, we’ll drop all, you know,

we are never eating bread again.

We’re never eating a pizza.

And like you said, even the changes

of just like Burger King swapping out the things,

what are some of the other like common swaps

that you recommend for folks,

just like something that folks can get a sense of like,

oh, okay, so he’s talking about these kind of things

sequentially and then we’ll get into some of the fitness.

CODY: Yeah, yeah, so when it comes to this,

we will cook maybe one to two meals a week here.

everything else, we buy pre-made, pre-cooked at Costco.

So I hate cooking.

My wife is especially a fan of it.

She’s obviously better at it than me,

but we get things that come in a microwave that,

or sometimes you gotta have a cook them,

that have the macros, the healthier nutrition that we need.

So in Fred Myers, Kroger, they all have these sections in there

that’ll have these high protein meals

that are between 15 to 30 grams of protein,

roughly two to 300 calories of serving,

but it’s normal food.

So what I always suggest is figure out what you like to eat

and figure out a way to make that healthy.

And so if you’re eating a sandwich every day,

they have bread that’s less calories,

bread that’s lower carb,

you haven’t switched the food you’re eating,

you’ve just switched a couple of things on it.

And this goes a long way.

If you’re low net with mayo,

maybe you can get away with just mustard on it.

All of a sudden you’ve saved 200 calories,

that’s almost half a pound of fat loss a week

just by doing that.

And so don’t neglect the little things

that can get you a big outcome,

But the biggest thing is it’s preparation.

So when people think they have to eat chicken rice

and broccoli, they dread it.

They never do it because it’s too hard.

So if you go to Costco and you can get,

grass-fed beef lasagna, and you’re like,

wait a minute, I could have lasagna and diet?

Yeah, it’s a calorie game, right?

Okay, you can have brisket, you can have taco bowls,

you can have tacos, you can have burgers

as long as you get the numbers right.

So if you were making burgers like for your family

and stuff and you were using 80/20 meat,

and you literally just switch out for 93.7,

you’re gonna save 100, 150 calories

by eating the same exact food.

So before you do anything different,

you’ve got a quarter pound of fat loss a week

just by that one subtle little switch.

And so this stuff can go a long ways

for you without making you miserable.

So find the food you enjoy,

figure out if there’s a pre-made healthy option

that takes the convenience out.

If not, figure out the way you can cook that stuff

kind of prep it ahead of time

so you don’t get home and let the hunger monster

make your decisions.

JANNINE: Huge, huge, and easy to think through,

easy to think through.

‘Cause I think a lot of people are on the complex of,

okay, I gotta eat, I mean, women in particular were like,

all right, that’s it, salads for the next six months.

And that’s the thing that people say to me all the time.

They’re like, all right, doc, so then when do I get

to eat normal food again?

And I’m like.

(laughs)

JANNINE: Well, on the salad thing too.

So there’s a restaurant down in Vancouver,

a Billigan’s Roadhouse I think it is.

And I still remember this ’cause I would have a family

go there and they would get the cob salad. And you know, Washington started listing all the calories

off that restaurant too. Yeah. Because that cob salad had more calories than the burger and fries.

And so you might go somewhere thinking that salad is healthy, but by the time you put the cheese,

the dressing, the croutons, you would have been better off eating a burger and fry to lose weight

than the salad. And so it’s not necessarily about what you’re eating, but it’s more about the numbers

of what you’re eating, because at the end of the day, we all know like an apple is healthier than

hot pocket, right? Like it’s it is what it is. But if the calories come out less than you’re burning,

you’re going to gain low. If the calories come out, or more than you’re burning,

you’re eating them. If they come out less than you’re burning, you’re going to lose weight.

Right. And so it’s a numbers name at the end of the day. So when you can remove that emotional

component of it and just look at it for what it is, it becomes a whole lot easier. So especially

when you’re trying to plan food and stuff, take you out of the equation. If you were trying to

help your friend Cindy lose weight, what would you tell her to eat? Right? You wouldn’t tell her,

well, peruse the cupboards and eat this. You’d be like, okay, that sounds ridiculous. Maybe she

needs to have protein for dinner, right? Because people will do more to help other people than they

will to help them. 

JANNINE: Yes. Oh, we’re weird that way, but that is not as such a thing. So think, you know,

for food and I think folks have got some good tips and they’re kind of like, oh, okay, okay,

I can do that. What about in terms of fitness? Now, you were talking about things, the,

the base and the foundation before even stepping into either a gym or working out. And I know you

do online coaching. And I don’t know if you’re still doing in person anymore. But what’s, what’s

kind of the, the get started fitness kind of recommendations you’d have folks kind of think

through. 

CODY: Yeah, absolutely. Ladies, don’t go on the cardio first. Get on the weights. So you’re

first thing when you go to the gym, you’re like, Oh, that’s man’s land. I don’t want to do that.

that’s where all the meat heads are at and you be lying over to the treadmill and you walk into

2.8 and you do it for three months and you wonder why you’re not getting toned because you’re going

to the gym but you haven’t done any of the gym things in the gym. So what we want to do is focus

on lifting first and cardio if we need to speed up fat loss after that. Now from a health standpoint

right doing cardio is absolutely healthy but just from a weight loss standpoint we don’t need it.

You only need it if your nutrition is out of line and you’re trying to compensate

or your metabolism is super slow and you’re trying to crank it. But somebody first starting

out should not need a copious amount of cardio. Now, the thing is, if you’re someone who’s training

zero times a week is one more than zero, absolutely. So do not think you got to go up there five,

six days a week, one to two days a week. If you’re getting progress off that losing a pound

of two pounds a week, tightening up, toning, I’m not a fan of doing more work than necessary

it or reach my goal. So I would just keep writing that out until it sticks. And then if it starts

slow down, okay, cool. Maybe I’ll throw in another day. But don’t be afraid to go on the weights. And

the other thing too, we’re in a society where, you know, it’s sexy on YouTube and Instagram to say,

like, people are getting made fun of in the gym all the time. And I have been in the gym living

there for 17 plus years. So 12, 14 hours a day in the gym, I have never seen someone get

blatantly made fun of out in the open.

Maybe somebody posted something online,

maybe they were, you know,

muttering under their breath to their buddies,

but I still haven’t seen it.

I’ve worked with over 2,000 people

who have yet to give me a complaint of it happening to them.

But online, it’s really cool to be like,

oh, these guys were making fun of me

when I was heading towards the treadmill, right?

And I’ve seen it in the gym where like,

I have a client when I was doing in-person training,

we were laughing at something like,

look at that machine over there, right?

somebody walked by and they would think we’re talking about them because their own insecurities,

right? We’re like, oh, fit people, looking in my direction and laughing, I’m getting made fun of,

but they weren’t even on the playbook, right, when it came to that conversation. So when it comes to

like that fear you’re thinking people are going to get made fun of, the people are not up there in

the gym because they’re comfortable with other bodies. 99% of people in gym are not in shape.

they’re there to get in shape. So you got to remember, we’re in America, like this,

this is one of the fattest countries in the world per capita. So the odds are that the people in

the gym all look like meatheads and bodybuilders, it’s very, very thin. And I have seen more people,

you know, three, four hundred pounds go up there, get on the treadmill, work out pretty consistently,

get crazy from people than I ever have get ripped to shreds. So like you see someone

up there for a month and you’re like, good for you. Like, I am so glad to see you up here. And so

don’t, don’t let the internet stories keep you from getting on the weights because you’re worried

about being on like a YouTube’s fail and looking silly or any of that stuff, right? Because it

doesn’t happen near as much as the internet likes to make you believe.  

JANNINE: 100%. I would agree with you

being a gym rat myself. There is, I’ve not seen it, you know, it’s just happened. In fact, most,

most of the big bulky meat, guys love it if you talk to them, they’re like,

yeah, it’s more community, you know, and at the same time, it’s kind of like an irony, right?

Because people wouldn’t hesitate to go up the gym, be like, oh, they’re just one of those dumb

meatheads. If you see this big muscular guy, which in fact is still an insult and you’re

dogging them, the only difference would be is that guy’s not as insecure about what you’re saying,

right? And so, fortunately, if you’re feeling neglect from like, you feel like somebody’s making

like if one of you for your weight or whatever,

there’s a part of you that believes it.

And so not saying that it’s okay

that they would be doing that if it happened,

but you have to question if it does bother you,

maybe it’s time to do something about it

so you can build that skin a little bit thicker.

Because like if I came up to you and I said,

“Man, you have a blue nose.”

You’re gonna look at me like, “I’m high as a kind.”

You’re gonna be like, “What are you talking about?”

Like, “Oh yeah, this dude’s on drugs.”

Like, “What is he talking about?”

And it’s in a super grease, right?

(laughs)

JANNINE: That’s hilarious.

CODY: But at the same time, right?

You believe at least to some degree what they’re saying

and that’s what stings, not the fact that they’re saying.

And so don’t let something like that be real if you,

if something bothers you from like a insecurity aspect

and you have the ability to take the reins

and do something about it, do it, right?

Because then you can be so damn tough

that it doesn’t matter what they say

because you can’t be crushed by it.

JANNINE: So huge, so huge.

And I think it’s important

‘Cause yeah, I do see that online.

I’m like, I’ve never, I mean, never.

And people be like to me, well, you’re fit

and you’re used to going to the gym.

Well, yeah, maybe, but still I’ve never seen any of that.

CODY: Want them to get time in there.

I mean, you just hours and hours and hours.

And if you haven’t seen it, like how can it happen

as much as you say it happens?

If people that pretty much are a fixture in a gym,

don’t see it.

JANNINE: Yeah, yeah, I don’t know.

CODY: You must be really sneaky with it.

JANNINE: Right.

And, or they just, you know, I mean, here’s the bottom line, like the most, most gyms I’ve

been in that I really love, it’s, there’s no room for drama, you know, and that really

is kind of how it’s family, you know, best friend, most of my best friends are from

gyms.

And, and that’s just how it’s been and folks, you know, like, like Cody saying, you know,

if you’re open to being friendly and not being, you know, feeling like you’re being judged

or getting, you got to get over it, you’ll, you’ll make some really great friends and

people will give you tips like, like, it’s awesome. There’s

good stuff. It’s fun. So tell us a little bit about your

business, how you’re interacting with folks, how you’re

helping folks. I also saw that that your wife is too. So for

folks who are just like, maybe I want a female aspect of

things to help me out to give us a scoop. Tell us all what

you guys are up to.

CODY: Yeah. So we do coaching with people all across the world. So I

did in person for many, many years, but it misses out on the

fundamentals, right? So you’re up to their account reps. But if

really the nutrition, the workout plan structure in itself and

the mindset for the issues, you can’t do that just counting

the risk. So when I started doing this, it’s just been, it has

been a game changer for how many people I can have for outreach

and hope. And that that’s the name of the game. So, you know,

we’ll get over in Europe, up in Canada, across the globe,

Australia, the works that we’re able to help take control of

their life and get results that truly lasts a lifetime. So when

And we bring people on, like I don’t actually want them as a client anymore.

I mean, that like a negative aspect, but if you have to pay me forever, I haven’t–

And so my goal is to get you to the results, teach you how to maintain it.

And then if I seen you in a grocery store in three years, I would want you running up

to me going, we can go together with this and go through that habit stacking, slowly

build them up over time.

Now it’s in automation.

You don’t have to think about following a fitness plan.

Now you’re set up for success, because if you get up every day, you have to open it and

you have to, oh, only 39 more days of this stupid plan, and then I’m done, you’re not

set up for success, versus if you have to get up and it’s like brushing your teeth,

you can’t fail.

You’re never going to put that weight on again, you’re set up for success.

And so, you know, with me and my staff, we’ve been able to help a tremendous amount of people

go through the basics, make it a lot simpler than they may have thought it was in the first

place.

And it’s truly been a game changer when it comes to that.

JANNINE: Oh man, you know, I mean, that’s the beauty of this.

‘Cause yeah, I’m like you,

I don’t want someone to come up to me and be like,

doc, I don’t know what’s happened to me.

I want it to be like, look at me, I’m still doing great.

You know, over many years.

And that’s just the big, big, yeah, that’s what you want.

That’s the beauty and that’s what we do at four.

So let’s tell folks where all they can find you,

your website, Instagram, social, whatever you got.

– Give us a scoop.

CODY: So I’m gonna be easiest to find on Instagram,

Cody Watkins Fitness on Instagram.

I’m on Facebook as well.

Instagram’s just a little bit more interactive.

You’ll get a little bit more of me there

or on my personal Facebook.

But for any of your listeners,

I set up my food freedom program.

And with this, I have some of my best works in there.

You can’t find it anywhere else.

This is a very good step to start your new year off

with a bang.

So you wanna learn how to do nutrition,

how to do macros, how to do food.

We teach that there.

You wanna get some bad-ass recipes

that don’t taste like chicken rice and broccoli.

We give that in there.

And it will set you up with the fundamentals

and the foundation to start seeing those successes.

And the biggest thing is winners win and lose your lose.

So if you’re seeing wins, you’re gonna keep on going.

If you’re losing off the gate,

it’s too hard unmanageable.

90% of New Year’s resolutions

are gonna fail within the first two weeks.

You don’t wanna be one of those.

So if that’s something you wanna kind of jumpstart your results,

This is completely free, message me on Instagram, Freedom22.

I’ll send you a link.

You’ll get all the training, all the material,

and set yourself up for success in 2025.

JANNINe: Love it, love it.

Cody, thank you so much for being real,

giving us the real scoop on how things are.

And gosh, just great info.

Love the work you’re doing

and can’t wait to put this podcast out.

Thanks again.

CODY: Absolutely, it’s been great.

Thank you.

JANNINE: [Outro ] (upbeat music) Hey fellow health junkie.

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